


A Haunting Piano Refrain

by Artistic_Arteries



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Power Swap, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen, Gross, Minor Allison Hargreeves/Luther Hargreeves, Non-Canonical Character Death, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29167788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artistic_Arteries/pseuds/Artistic_Arteries
Summary: The Hargreeves deal with the death of their father in their own ways, some more gleefully than others and none of them healthily.It might sound like the story you've heard before, but the numbers don't actually add up like you think they do
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	A Haunting Piano Refrain

Introduction  
On October 1st 1989, women all over the world gave birth at the first hour. This was unusual, as none of them had been pregnant when the day first began.

Reginald Hargreaves bought seven of them. 

Nearly 30 years later, they would be estranged, only coming together when news of their father’s passing reached them through their various positions and lifestyles. 

Number One, who was currently on the moon, took the news with shock. With a broken-hearted and lost feeling which was more encompassing than the inky blackness of space. 

Number Two was told by Patch, a coworker and friend at the department they worked for. She knew Reginald meant nothing to him, unlike most people’s fathers, but that his passing would still feel like a sucker punch. Years of resentment would do that.

Number Three was interrupted by an assistant who had heard the news. While it was a shock to hear that it happened, everyone knew it had to happen eventually. Reginald Hargreaves was an old man when they had all been adopted, and was now dead, as old men tend to be eventually.

Number Four had just gotten out of rehab, and was being resuscitated at the time. He heard about what happened on the news from the TV on the ambulance. He and Number Six were both shocked; resentment, relief, and then eventually glee overtook them, as they came to terms with what they were hearing. Finally, he was dead.

Number Five had heard the news long ago in a newspaper that hadn’t burnt to a crisp in the apocalypse. Not that anyone knew that.

Number Seven had just gotten out of band practice, walking home alone late at night. Televisions in the store window of a local electronics shop had all said the same thing:  
Reginald Hargreaves Dead.

Luther stood stock still as it started to rain around him.  
-

All his life, he had been the black sheep of the family. How could he not be? All of his other siblings have abilities beyond human capability. Powers that scientists have wondered about the origins of since they showed themselves to the world. One sibling, however, didn’t have such powers. He was the ordinary one in a house of extraordinary people.

The others excluded him, and so when he was finally able to, he spoke out about their lives beyond the masks. 

His siblings hated him for it.

To say that Luther Hargreeves was nervous about going home was an understatement. 

They hadn’t accepted him before, but he gave them reason to outright hate him, now. 

He stands outside the house, it’s imposing height and out of place style making it stick out to him. He pays the taxi driver who drives off, leaving Luther there. The gate creaks as he lets himself through, the sound echoes in his ears, probably louder than it actually is but he can never tell. Every sound he makes could be announcing his appearance before he’s actually ready to see anyone for all he knows. He just hopes that he’ll have some time to get over being in the house before he’s confronted by everyone. 

As soon as he walks in the door, Three is there, an eyebrow raised. 

So much for settling in.

“Hey Three.” Luther greets nervously. 

He smiles back at Luther. That snarky smirk smile that he seems to only ever use. Three rarely smiles in a casual way, it’s almost always at someone’s expense. 

“I read your book, by the way.” Three says offhandedly, as if he didn’t just strangle Luther’s heart with a simple sentence. “Found it pretty good, actually. Definitely a ballsy move, giving up the family secrets. Can’t imagine how everyone else took it, assuming they read it.”

“They did.” Luther manages to choke out. “They hate me.”

“Well there are worse things that can happen” he replies smoothly.

“Oh” 

They turn to the source of the voice. Another brother he wasn’t ready to see again comes in from the sitting room. 

“Hey, Ben.” He says softly in greeting. Ben looks like he ate something sour and is contemplating spitting it out. 

“Hey. Luther.” He says haltering before breaking eye contact and moving past them, heading upstairs. 

Luther and Three are quiet as Ben leaves. 

“Well!” Three claps his free hand to his seemingly empty mug once, breaking the atmosphere and letting Luther breathe again. “That was lovely. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see if there’s any coffee around or if dad was still the inhuman monstrosity he was last time I was in this house and never kept any.” 

He walks away, heading towards the kitchen. 

Luther decides against following after him. He’s blown away that Three liked it at all, but doesn’t want to jinx it by asking about it more just yet. 

He looks at the large painting above the mantle, Allison’s eternally young face stares down on him. He can’t help but think that if Allison was still around, then maybe it wouldn’t have turned out this way. He wouldn’t have sold the Hargreaves secrets, wouldn’t have been so alone in the first place. He wanted to do what he thought would make him noticed by someone, he wanted the world to know about how far off they were about the Umbrella Academy they praised. 

It was what took Allison away. She had dreams of doing something greater and decided that she would go somewhere she could become a star. She was driven and wild and wonderful. Too smart and brash for her own good, is what their dad would say. She left without him to prove to all of them she would do amazing things, but instead of coming home with her face on a magazine, she never came home at all. 

He turns away from her unmoving gaze and moves to where he knows dad keeps the autobiographies. There, the book he helped write was squished between the other H names. He pulls it out and opens it, the book feeling stiff and new.

He didn’t read it. 

“Master Luther.” 

He turns, seeing Pogo. 

“He never read it. Did he?” Luther asks, holding his book. 

Pogo’s face falls as Luther feels bitter disappointment rise in his stomach. “No, I’m afraid not.”

Swallowing down a pill, he puts the book back. He clears his throat, looking to Allison once more. “How long has it been, now?”

Pogo turns to where he’s looking, giving Luther some privacy to compose himself. “Sixteen years, four months, and fourteen days” he answers perfectly. “Your father made sure I kept exact count; in case she ever return.”

If she ever returned. Many of the others lost faith she would ever come back, but he never gave up hope. Never was unfaithful to her.

“I used to- uh- set out her favorite soda, whenever I got the chance to get one since dad wouldn’t keep any in the house. I would keep a light on in case she came back and couldn’t tell where she was in the dark.” He also used to stay up in Allison’s room as much as he could, but he doesn’t mention that to Pogo. He feels foolish, admitting what he did, but after seventeen years, he feels like he should open up to someone who wasn’t an interviewer. Pogo was family, more so than their adoptive father. 

He didn’t include that part in the story, feeling as if it wasn’t very important, or maybe that it was too personal. His and Allison’s feast was deeply personal to him. A night that would never be repeated, as she disappeared only months later, her pendant gone with her. She gave him her heart and she left with the one he gave her. 

“Ah, yes. I remember knocking quite a few of those glasses over.” The primate chuckles. They’re interrupted by Vanya coming into the room. 

She looks different. She has a strange strip of metal along her lower jaw and scaring surrounding it. 

She stops, noticing he’s here for a moment. She shakes herself, continuing on instead of saying what was on her mind. 

“Good, you’re here. We’re about to have a family meeting.” She turns and leaves, setting her jaw. He hears the door on the other side of the entry hall open and close behind her. Before everyone starts showing up. Klaus coming in and sitting down sloppily on the couch, his long limbs going every which way as he starfishes without even saying hello.

So much for a family reunion. 

\---

**Author's Note:**

> Review!


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